by Natalie Grey
She emoted a smile. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He looked at the two of them, then gestured to a table. “Okay, group conference time. Mind me speaking frankly about the Harry thing, Gracie?”
“Ah…” Not in front of the blabbermouth, please. But she told herself it was going to come out sometime, anyway. “Why the hell not? Shoot.”
“I emailed Harry,” Jay said. “I didn’t ask him what he was doing lurking around your apartment—”
“Harry’s doing what?” Alan interjected. “Like, the guy who built the game? He’s stalking Gracie? Gracie, have you talked to the police?”
Gracie gave a small smile. “No. Not yet.”
“You should.” Alan had his character slap the table for emphasis.
“The police are going to ask if he’s done anything violent, and then they’ll tell me they don’t have any cause to charge him with anything. It’s just going to be a lot of fuss, trust me. Besides, I don’t think it’s a violent thing. Jay, you were saying?”
“I asked him a lot of other questions,” Jay said. “I asked why he’d made this quest, whether he thought he’d be the one doing it, and what his end goal was.”
“And?” His tone was frustrated, but Gracie couldn’t yet guess why.
“He gave me a lot of nothing,” Jay replied, annoyed. “I got through the whole email, and it was like he’d taken a page and a half to say jack shit.” He sighed so heavily that his character’s body moved. “So, I don’t know what to tell you. You know how you didn’t like it when he started emailing me? Well, I’m on board with that now.”
“Knew you’d come around,” Gracie said with a small smile. “And, as it happens, I think you were on the right track with thinking he hid some stuff here, so that’s what we’re doing. We’re poking around to find whatever we can find. We’re going to figure this zone out: explore every building, every alley—”
“Kill every giant spider,” Alan said prosaically.
Gracie shuddered. “At least we know those are there now. I figured we’d start in the inn.”
“Good call.” Jay had his character stand up. “Top to bottom, or bottom to top?”
“Let’s start gentle,” Alan voted. “Inn rooms first, spooky basement last.”
“You think that’s gentle?” Gracie quipped. “You clearly haven’t seen the threads on the forums about people RPing in the inns.”
“Oh, Lord.” Alan dropped his head into one hand. “I should have known.”
They made their way up to the second floor, Gracie and Jay cracking jokes about the types of things they might walk in on.
“You think there are Piskie fetishists?”
“What, have you never been on the internet before? Of course, there are Piskie fetishists.”
“This is so wrong,” Alan called up at them.
“Oh, it’s all in good fun,” Jay said. He opened one of the doors. “No one’s actually going to be— I was wrong. I was so wrong. Excuse me, I’m sorry.”
There was a long, awkward pause while Gracie tried unsuccessfully to muffle her laughter. Finally, she broke.
“Um, what did you see?”
“I’d rather not revisit that memory, thanks.” Jay sounded pained. “There were…costumes.”
Gracie gave up and howled with laughter. “Okay, we’ll start in a different room. See anything else interesting in there? Hidden alcoves? Hidey-holes?”
“Nah, your eye just really goes right to the Ocru in the pink getup.” Jay looked up at the ceiling as if beseeching an uncaring god. “I…wow. Oof. That’s gonna stick with me.”
“Oooookay. Well, we’ll try another room. I’ll look this time, don’t worry.” Gracie edged over to the second of the three doors. “Hello? Anyone there?” She pushed the door open cautiously. “Phew, empty.”
“You have all the luck,” Jay grumbled. “I hope you know how unfair it is. You know—”
“Whoa.” Gracie cut him off without meaning to. “Guys, look at this place.” She walked in, turning around to look at everything. “This is amazing.”
The room as good as told the story of Night’s Edge, and it gave it a heartbreaking twist. Jewelry and decorations made of shells were present around the room, as were a set of clay figurines in the shapes of merpeople and Aosi. All of them carried weapons, and some had tipped over. A map showed many redrawn lines, indicating an advancing front, and there were sketches of a face that might have been human or Aosi or mer. All that Gracie could say for certain was that the person had been lost and that they were deeply mourned.
There was hope here, too, though. Little human touches, like a carved flute with seashells crudely burned into it. It lacked the distinctive elven grace of the Aosi or the actual sea materials of the merpeople, but whoever had owned it had treasured it for its attempt to pay homage to the sea.
The window on the far wall looked out over the bay, and Gracie found herself wondering if the person who lived here used the view as an inspiration or a reminder of what had been lost.
“What are you thinking?” Jay asked quietly.
“That life goes on,” Gracie said slowly. “That people find a way. Here’s this flute, this sign that humans are here, trading, living. There’s a friendship here, something beautiful and strong, but it never would have happened without the war. Night’s Edge now is built on that rubble.” She looked at him, eyes searching his face even though she knew it was only pixels and not really him. “Sometimes Harry infuriates me, but sometimes I see this vision of the world he wanted to show and it’s hard to be angry.”
Jay was silent for a moment. Alan had crouched to look at the figurines.
“Can I ask you something?” Gracie said to Jay.
“Sure.”
“Where do you think this is all going?” Gracie asked him. “He built this quest…we think. But we don’t know why, and we don’t know what’s going to happen at the end. I think that’s a big part of what’s stressing me out. I love this place, Jay. I love it so much, and I don’t think Harry would do something that would destroy it, but what if I’m wrong? I didn’t know him, and it kind of sounds like he was an asshole.”
“He was. He definitely was.” Jay chewed his lip. “It’s hard to explain. Um. To tell the truth, I don’t know where this is going. I wish I did, Gracie. That’s part of why I’m trying to figure it out. I want this shitstorm to be over with.”
“What if it just gets worse?” Gracie burst out. She sighed. “I’m sorry, but we should think about it, shouldn’t we?” She was aware of Alan hovering awkwardly.
“We’ll figure it out,” Jay said. “Every time I think I understand this, you say something like what you said about the flute, and I remember that Harry wasn’t as simple as we wanted him to be. He wasn’t just an asshole, Gracie. I think you see something in this game that he wanted everyone to see. And I think you’re right: he wouldn’t destroy it all.”
“Ugh.” Gracie sniffled and then rubbed her stomach. “And now I’m hungry. I’m going to order something, I’ll be right back.”
“Good call. We’ll poke around the inn—well, depending on what’s lurking in these rooms. Just join us whenever you’re back.”
“Roger that.” Gracie sighed as she took off her VR helmet. She could see Alex’s shoes at the door. “Yo, Alex.”
“Hey.” His voice echoed down the hall.
“I’m ordering dinner. What do you want?”
“Can’t.” He walked out into the main room, putting gel in his hair. “I have a date.”
“You had a lunch date,” Gracie said.
“Yeah, and it went well.” He gave her a grin. “Until we ran out of time, so…”
“Ew, staaaahp! I don’t want to hear about it.” Gracie stuck out her tongue. “Go on, go on, have fun. I’ll order something just for me.”
“You should try Giacomo’s,” Alex suggested. “It’s what went in when Carmelita’s closed down. Don’t give me that face. It’s good pizza, too. Carmelita’s is close
d, Gracie. Your loyalty gets you nothing.”
“If you stand on principle only when it’s easy, you betray yourself.” Gracie shook her fist. “I would rather eat gravel. I’ll get Thai food or something. Have fun on your date.”
“I intend to.” Alex slipped his shoes on, gave her a last grin, and practically ran out the door.
Gracie chuckled and rolled her eyes as she dialed the number for the Thai place nearby. She had only just ordered when a knock sounded at the door and she frowned.
“That was absurdly quick—” she began as she opened the door.
But it wasn’t her takeout. It was Harry.
Chapter Thirteen
Gracie hadn’t intended to get freaked out, but Alan’s words came back to her: Harry is stalking you? She opened the door. She saw Harry. She slammed the door.
Directly in his face as he’d stepped forward.
She heard the door slam into his head and clapped a hand over her mouth. Wrenching the door open, she was confronted by the sight of a tall, bald, bearded man with his hands over a bloody nose.
“I’m so sorry,” Gracie managed. “I’m so sorry.”
“What the fuck?” Harry asked, his voice muffled. “You just slam the door on me?”
Gracie had been sorry a moment earlier, but Harry’s anger touched off her own. Her eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?” she asked, her voice icy-cold. “You follow me around for a week—at least—show up at my door, try to step inside without being invited, and get mad at me for shutting the door on you? Are you fucking kidding me?”
Harry stared at her. His hands were clasped over his nose, and blood was trickling out from beneath them, over his lips and chin. As surprised as he was, this might be the first time in his life that anyone had ever yelled at him. Gracie crossed her arms and gave him what Alex called the Look-with-a-capital-L. She smiled her customer service smile, the one that said, I have to be nice to you on the surface, but I’d shank you in a second if I could.
She waited.
Finally, Harry said. “Can I have a tissue or something?”
Gracie raised an eyebrow.
“Fine,” Harry snapped. “I’m sorry. Was that what you wanted to hear?”
“Yes,” Gracie said. “I’ll go get you a tissue. Ah, ah, ah,” she added, as Harry stepped forward. She closed the door, locked it, and went to go get a tissue. When she came back, it was to find him waiting with a manifestly unimpressed expression on his face. “You show up unexpected at people’s doors, dude, you take what you get.”
He wiped his nose carefully, taking tissues from the proffered box and cleaning himself up. Then he looked up at her. “May I come in?” His voice was a parody of courtesy.
So, apparently he had learned nothing. Gracie considered just saying no and shutting the door in his face, but she had questions she wanted answered.
“Why?” she asked, instead.
“Because we’re on the same side,” Harry said, through gritted teeth. This was definitely a man who was used to having people fawning over him.
“What side?” Gracie asked innocently. She tilted her head. “I don’t even know who you are.” When he glared, she gave a smile. “Am I supposed to?”
“Your roommate told you exactly who I am,” Harry said.
“Don’t think so,” Gracie said. “He’s very private about his work. Are you a colleague?”
Harry gave her a look. “Fine. Your roommate didn’t tell you. I get it. But you know who I am, and you know we’re on the same side, so let me into your damned apartment.”
“Your chances are going down,” Gracie informed him, “not up. You may be used to people who go running when you start to talk loudly and get all threatening, but I’ve been working in a casino, buddy. I’ve seen professional football players drunk off their asses and wanting to fight anything that moves. I’ve seen security guards practicing all the moves to look big and scary. You want to bluster and shout at someone when they have the audacity to call you on your bullshit? Well, guess what, that’s not going to get you anywhere with me.”
From the look on his face, Harry wanted nothing more than to storm off down the corridor and leave. The fact that he didn’t showed just how badly he needed her, Gracie thought. He gave her a look of open dislike.
“Why me?” Gracie asked him. “It was random, wasn’t it? It had to be. There’s no way you would have known who I was before all this started.”
He gave a curt nod.
Gracie gestured for him to keep going. She wasn’t going to fall into the trap where she interrogated him. She might ask the wrong questions, and Harry was definitely the type of person not to tell her if that was what she was doing. She had to let him talk. Then, he’d tell her the real story. People were uncomfortable with silence.
When she said nothing, he gave a sound halfway between a sigh and a growl. “What do you want from me?”
“You showed up at my door, buddy. You don’t get to talk to me like that.” Gracie narrowed her eyes.
Then the dam broke.
“Do you have any fucking idea what you’ve done to my life?” she demanded. “Literally, the first fucking clue?”
Harry said nothing, His nose was leaking again, and from the way he was twitching his lip, he knew it. But he didn’t seem to dare reach for another tissue.
“I was just trying to play a goddamned game,” Gracie half-shouted. “I got a VR set because my roommate said I would like it. I rolled a character with blue skin because why the hell not? I’d always wanted to be an elf, and you know what? I fucking loved it. It was a beautiful world, it was a beautiful story. There was love and there was loss, and I was fighting for things that mattered and working for peace. Instead of having that, now I have all this other bullshit to deal with!”
One of the doors down the hall opened, and a guy stuck his head out the door. “Hey, do you mind?”
“Sorry,” Gracie said. She grabbed Harry’s arm and yanked him into her apartment, slamming the door behind him.
“I’ll explain,” Harry said curtly.
“NO. You’ll fucking listen, you piece of shit.” Gracie threw up her hands. “Okay, that was slightly over the line.”
“Slightly?”
“Yeah. Slightly.” Her face dared him to argue with her. “My life wasn’t great, all right? I had a shit job, my family was always on my damned case, I didn’t have a boyfriend. What I needed was for something to distract me. I needed to have a place where I could chill out with friends and feel like I was fighting for something. Do you get that? Do you even…” She waved her hands. To her horror, there were tears in her eyes.
Harry said nothing for a moment. His arms were crossed over his barrel chest, and he was staring at the ground.
“It wasn’t supposed to be you,” he said finally. “It was supposed to be me.”
Gracie wiped at her eyes. “Why a quest, then? Why not just roll a character with those abilities?”
“Because I saw the writing on the wall,” Harry said. “They were forcing me out, and I knew it. They could block my ability to get into the game, roll a GM character, change a few access codes or leveling mechanics, and I’d never be able to get my powers back. But I wove the quest in. They weren’t looking for it, they were never going to take it all out. Doing the quest would…” He shook his head. “Make me a god. In the game.”
Gracie stared at him for a long moment.
“And then you did it,” Harry said unnecessarily. “And only one person can do it.”
Gracie swallowed. She looked down at the floor, biting her lip, and tried to think of what to say.
“Why?” she asked finally. “What was even the end goal? To be a god, you said that, but what does that mean? And why?”
“It’s not important,” Harry said.
“No, it is. Because I’m stuck in this now, don’t you see?” Gracie shook her head. “I have people trying to infiltrate my guild and take me down as an example because I won some ranking contest I didn’t
even fucking care about?”
“Yeah, I don’t know what’s going on with that.” Harry scratched his beard. “I didn’t intend to have it affect the rankings. Must be a glitch.”
“I swear to God, if another one of you fucking people mentions glitches, I am going to start punching people in the throat,” Gracie gritted out. “I don’t care whether or not you intended it to cause the rankings issue.”
“A moment ago, you said you did.” Harry gave her the same bland customer-service smile she’d given him.
“Remember what I said about punching people in the throat?” Gracie asked him. “Because you’re getting there. I want to know what you intended, but I also want you to know just how much you fucked my life over.”
“I’m given to understand that you now play video games for a living,” Harry said bluntly. “That place on the rankings pays a lot of money each month. And don’t tell me you liked working in a casino.”
Gracie stepped over to the door and opened it. “You explain how you know so much about me, or you leave,” she said. Her lips were numb.
Harry rubbed his face. “Should I just go?”
“If you’re going to be a superior son of a bitch who isn’t helpful, then yes,” Gracie snapped. “I have the Dragon Soul game developers mad at me for nothing I did, I have a bunch of companies whining about how I jacked the ratings, I have a bunch of bullshit to keep managing, and all I freaking wanted was to let off some steam and play a game. If you want to be another source of drama, you can get out. If you want to explain what’s going on, you can stay.”
Harry sighed and leaned back against the wall, his hands in his pockets. He blew out a breath.
“Here’s the thing no one else understood,” he said. “The game is real.”
“Beg pardon?” Her voice came out sounding way too much like her mother’s. Gracie cleared her throat hastily.
Harry shook his head in frustration. “You remember what I said to you at the altar? No action is wasted. What you do, how you behave—that becomes a part of you. It ripples back into the real world.”
